Six-year-old girl becomes first in Texas to get medical marijuana legally

Six-year-old girl becomes first in Texas to get medical marijuana legally

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Cansortium Texas, operated by Florida company Knox Medical, became the first medical marijuana dispensary in Texas to deliver prescription cannabidoil Thursday. The drug went to a 6-year-old girl in Central Texas.

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Marijuana plans are flourishing at Compassionate Cultivation in Schulenberg, about 100 miles east of San Antonio. The company plans to start delivering the legal cannabidoil next week.

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Taylor Kirk, left, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, and Dalton Edwards, a cultivation technician, check on marijuana plants to harvest.

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Taylor Kirk, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, checks on some young marijuana plants.

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Dalton Edwards of Compassionate Cultivation carries a bin of harvested clippings Friday from the company's first harvested marijuana plants.

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Morris Denton, CEO of Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, inspects a clipping from a marijuana plant.

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Special growing lights hang from the ceiling at Compassionate Cultivation, where the company’s first harvest of marijuana plants took place Friday in Austin. The plants will be used to make cannabidoil for patients with severe seizures.

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Taylor Kirk, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, carries a bin of clippings from a marijuana plant on Friday. The company harvested its first marijuana plants for medicinal use.

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Taylor Kirk, right, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, and Dalton Edwards, a cultivation technician, harvest marijuana Friday that will be used to help patients with severe seizures.

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Justin Russin, left, and Dalton Edwards of Compassionate Cultivation harvest the first marijuana plants Friday that will go into the making of cannabidoil for medicinal uses.

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Compassionate Cultivation named this marijuana plant Klick.

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Compassionate Cultivation named this marijuana plant Eltife.

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Compassionate Cultivation harvests its first marijuana plants Friday in Austin. It is one of three companies in Texas licensed to make cannabidoil for medicinal purposes.

Cansortium Texas, operated by Florida company Knox Medical, became the first medical marijuana dispensary in Texas to deliver prescription cannabidoil Thursday. The drug went to a 6-year-old girl in Central Texas.

Marijuana plans are flourishing at Compassionate Cultivation in Schulenberg, about 100 miles east of San Antonio. The company plans to start delivering the legal cannabidoil next week.

Taylor Kirk, left, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, and Dalton Edwards, a cultivation technician, check on marijuana plants to harvest.

Taylor Kirk, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, checks on some young marijuana plants.

Dalton Edwards of Compassionate Cultivation carries a bin of harvested clippings Friday from the company's first harvested marijuana plants.

Morris Denton, CEO of Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, inspects a clipping from a marijuana plant.

Special growing lights hang from the ceiling at Compassionate Cultivation, where the company’s first harvest of marijuana plants took place Friday in Austin. The plants will be used to make cannabidoil for patients with severe seizures.

Taylor Kirk, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, carries a bin of clippings from a marijuana plant on Friday. The company harvested its first marijuana plants for medicinal use.

Taylor Kirk, right, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, and Dalton Edwards, a cultivation technician, harvest marijuana Friday that will be used to help patients with severe seizures.

Justin Russin, left, and Dalton Edwards of Compassionate Cultivation harvest the first marijuana plants Friday that will go into the making of cannabidoil for medicinal uses.

Compassionate Cultivation named this marijuana plant Klick.

Compassionate Cultivation named this marijuana plant Eltife.

Compassionate Cultivation harvests its first marijuana plants Friday in Austin. It is one of three companies in Texas licensed to make cannabidoil for medicinal purposes.

Cansortium Texas, operated by Florida company Knox Medical, became the first medical marijuana dispensary in Texas to deliver prescription cannabidoil Thursday. The drug went to a 6-year-old girl in Central Texas.

Marijuana plans are flourishing at Compassionate Cultivation in Schulenberg, about 100 miles east of San Antonio. The company plans to start delivering the legal cannabidoil next week.

Taylor Kirk, left, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, and Dalton Edwards, a cultivation technician, check on marijuana plants to harvest.

Taylor Kirk, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, checks on some young marijuana plants.

Dalton Edwards of Compassionate Cultivation carries a bin of harvested clippings Friday from the company's first harvested marijuana plants.

Morris Denton, CEO of Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, inspects a clipping from a marijuana plant.

Special growing lights hang from the ceiling at Compassionate Cultivation, where the company’s first harvest of marijuana plants took place Friday in Austin. The plants will be used to make cannabidoil for patients with severe seizures.

Taylor Kirk, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, carries a bin of clippings from a marijuana plant on Friday. The company harvested its first marijuana plants for medicinal use.

Taylor Kirk, right, director of cultivation at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, and Dalton Edwards, a cultivation technician, harvest marijuana Friday that will be used to help patients with severe seizures.

Justin Russin, left, and Dalton Edwards of Compassionate Cultivation harvest the first marijuana plants Friday that will go into the making of cannabidoil for medicinal uses.

Compassionate Cultivation named this marijuana plant Klick.

Compassionate Cultivation named this marijuana plant Eltife.

Compassionate Cultivation harvests its first marijuana plants Friday in Austin. It is one of three companies in Texas licensed to make cannabidoil for medicinal purposes.

Six-year-old girl becomes first in Texas to get medical marijuana legally

A 6-year-old girl in Central Texas made history Thursday by becoming the first patient in the state to get marijuana-derived medicine legally to treat her epileptic seizures.

Knox Medical, one of three companies licensed by the state to dispense cannabidiol in Texas, announced delivery of the cannabidiol in a news release. The child’s name and city weren’t released to protect her privacy.

“For Texans suffering from intractable epilepsy, the wait for medical cannabis is finally over,” said José Hidalgo, founder and CEO of Knox Medical, registered with the state as Cansortium Texas. “This is a historic day for Texas and we will work tirelessly to uphold the trust and responsibility the state has placed in Knox Medical.”

The state legalized the so-called Compassionate Use Program almost three years ago, but dispensaries are just now coming online and making cannibidiol, or CBD, oil available to the estimated 150,000 patients who qualify.

A second company, Compassionate Cultivation, in the Austin area, recently announced plans to open its dispensary Feb. 8. Surterra Texas, also in the Austin area, in mid-December became the last to get licensed.

While the program is a major step for the state, Texas has one of the most restrictive medicinal marijuana programs in the nation, allowing only cannibidiol with low levels of THC, the component that gives pot users a high.

Patients qualify if they suffer uncontrollable epileptic seizures they haven’t been able to treat with traditional medicines.

Efforts in the last legislative session to expand use of the medicine to patients with other debilitating medical conditions failed, though a similar push is expected next year.

Knox Medical, based in Schulenburg, about 100 miles east of San Antonio on Interstate 10, was the first to get licensed by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The company doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar dispensary and delivers medicine to customers across the state by vehicle.

Patients have been eager to get prescriptions but have worried about the costs, which still remain largely unknown.

Despite initial concerns that doctors might be wary of prescribing the medicine, at least 16 physicians are now registered with the state to do so.

Critics had said the Texas law authorizing use of the drug put physicians on murky legal ground, because the certified epileptologists and neurologists must prescribe the drug, instead of simply “recommending” it, a phrase other states have used to sidestep federal marijuana prohibitions.

None of the registered doctors, however, is located in West Texas or south of San Antonio, raising concerns about whether patients statewide will have access.

Heather Fazio, Texas political director for the Marijuana Policy Project, said one mother in Brownsville with an epileptic daughter has to drive to Austin in hopes of getting a prescription.

“It’s prohibitive for patients in South Texas,” Fazio said. “In spite of the program’s unreasonably restrictive nature, we’re really happy to see the (cannibidiol) is getting into the hands of at least one patient who needs it.”